Press release 09/2008 from July 14, 2008
Two highlights in our anniversary year

We are in the middle of our anniversary year. At our school location in Prenzlauer Berg, our elementary school celebrates the first 20 years of its existence. The Free Evangelical School Berlin, founded in 1988, has developed into four separate schools. Our junior high school can already celebrate its 10th anniversary this year, while in 2006, two further elementary schools, the “Arche-Grundschule” in Hellersdorf and the “Immanuel-Schule” in Spandau, began their work under the umbrella of the FESB association. This is more than enough reason to celebrate and most all to be grateful.

Friday, July 11, 2008, was the highlight of the school year: our neighborhood summer party was on from 3:00 until 6:00 p.m. Students from our schools, their siblings, parents, grandparents, and also our neighbors, young and old – everyone was invited to join in the fun and celebrate. While we had prepared games for every age group, one of the biggest attractions was the trampoline.
Face painting was one of the many other things the visitors were thrilled about. Our school raffle was an undisputed blockbuster. Every other ticket was a winner, and the prizes that had been donated by many sponsors were nothing to sneeze at. The main prizes for example were three train tickets to Hamburg for one passenger each.   
It goes without saying that we also had plenty of cold beverages, salads, coffee, cakes, and waffles. Starting at 5:00 p.m., the junior high school hosted a cocktail party for all students and alumni. The small gym was transformed into a beach café and delicious non-alcoholic drinks and the DJ Paul’s music guaranteed good mood. The highlight of that evening was no doubt the fashion show presented by girls from grades 8 to 10, featuring styles from the postwar period until the 60ies. Chatting, hanging out, swapping memories and catching up on news – the evening was much too short.
Another special happening was the announcement of new names for our to-date nameless schools in Prenzlauer Berg. A jury selected these names from all suggestions we received upon our request: The elementary school on Christburger Straße is now officially the Christburg-Grundschule, and the junior high school bears the name Corrie-ten-Boom-Schule (subject to the legal affirmation).

On Saturday, July 12, guests, founding members of the FESB association, and staff from our schools met for a celebration and thanksgiving service. We especially welcomed Monika and Wolfgang Boguslawski, Sigrun and Werner Zimmermann and Monika and Lutz Röder, who initiated the foundation of the FESB, and presented them with a little ceramic as a token of our appreciation.

The guiding verse the FESB association chose at its foundation in 1988,

was also the central verse for this service. This Spirit of God has shaped the development of our FESB schools from their foundation until today. He was and is our guidance, He was and is power and strength, and He was and is assurance that the work will continue to move forward. Therefore we wanted to say a special “thank you” to God for His blessing during those two decades. Every participant was able to do this in a very personal way by writing their thanks on a small piece of paper and pinning it to a board.

The education councilor Lioba Zürn-Kasztantowicz acknowledged the responsible work of the Free Evangelical Schools Berlin in her greeting and emphasized their permanent place in Berlin’s school system.

Contact:
Gunter Hänel, Public Relations
Phone: +49 (0)30 44 05 05 02
Email: gh@fesb.de